


Planning for Success

by DigiConjurer



Series: The unsorted adventures of Princess Byleth and the Black Eagles [53]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dating, F/F, Fake Games, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Teacher-Student Relationship, chapter 5, movie date, planning, who would've thought
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23987554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigiConjurer/pseuds/DigiConjurer
Summary: In which plans are made in the hopes of a successful heist.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/My Unit | Byleth
Series: The unsorted adventures of Princess Byleth and the Black Eagles [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1463725
Kudos: 1





	1. Waking up to an invisible mess

I don't own fire emblem.

* * *

It’s been a day since Hubert’s announcement and life just… goes on at Gareg Mach. Somehow, neither his announcement or the fact that Marianne kidnapped someone actually made the rounds. The latter should’ve at least raised far too many red flags. But no, that’s too hard. Or someone is keeping people quiet. Too quiet. As if this whole place went on with their lives without really caring. I can only speculate on what could possibly be coming to disrupt this moment of peace. But what exactly?

Which brings us perfectly to Byleth’s apartment. For the moment, Byleth isn’t up yet. Not because she put in a long night, but more because the actual planning for this heist hangs heavy in her head. To be fair. All sorts of things can go wrong if you’re not careful. You can lose people, equipment might even break on you, might even have a rival gang of thieves show up and take the thing in question you were trying to steal. The last one Niles bitched about to no end. Like seriously, dude. Maybe if you weren’t trying to date every man you came across, you probably would be a half-decent thief. But no, that’s too hard for you to even consider.

Though, Sothis appears to be up at least. The switch has been set up and our child is playing Water Crest: Three Schools. Well, I think that’s Water Crest at least. Why else would our protagonist (some cyan haired girl) be picking out from three people? From the looksie, she’s dressed in a maid outfit of all things. Weird. I’m guessing this girl was a servant before all this went down. Or perhaps this is some weird costume provided at the start. Though, that’s quite a nice option to have when you start the game. I’m surprised more games don’t let you do that.

“Hm…” Sothis muttered, looking over her options. Should she go with Elanor von Alvasa, the future headmaster to the Mage’s Arcanium? She seemed like an outstanding gal - handy with an axe and heavy armor, the sort that could act as a very effective shield. Which is odd, since she’s supposed to be the leader of a bunch of mages or something. Kind of odd. Maybe there’s a reason for that.

Though, there was also Adams von Jukui, soon-to-be leader for the local Fight College. Really? Fight College? Who the hell does one need an education to punch people and stab them. Take someone like Arthur. When he’s not helping with farming or miscellaneous errands as ordered by his overly young maste- like seriously, she’s in fucking first grade and is in no way sixteen; she just claims to be. Especially when she asks to play games with me. Do I look like a person who plays games with children?

Oh. My wife is looking at me for that particular remark. Even if we do for some reason have kids, I would just raise even more confusion. That, and what if it turns out they got my weird curse? How the hell are we going to explain that to them. Better yet, who the fuck would we get for our surrogate? I can’t really think of anyone I would actually like to have their dick inside of me, thank you very mu- Not even Forrest. Remember, him and all the other kids grew up super fast. At least wait till they're in their thirties and for- No, there does not exist a spell to grow a set of balls. Even if such magic did exist, I would know it. Oh dear, I've gotten on quite a tangent. 

Rounding out the trio is Bill Rander, a wild card upstart with an unnamed school. Or perhaps he was some scammer who’s trying to pull a fast one on this woman. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done my fair share of scheming people. When you’re immortal, your morals take a dive. Okay, it’s not really something like a complete 180 on good and bad. More, you start to see things as less black and white and stop caring what side you’re on. But having settled down, I’ve refrained from doing that stuff. Mozu would chew me out, anyhow.

Oh, this is such a hard decision. Personally, I would choose Elanor. But that’s only because she looks to have gone through hell and back for something. I’m not entirely sure what that ‘something’ actually is, but I doubt it’s anything ‘nice’ or even ‘good’ to an extent. Even if she is a tank leading a bunch of mages. The other two just seem like they wouldn’t be too interesting. Or at least, not as intriguing as her. 

Yet, the game brought up one more textbox. You know, just to make sure that this was our ‘protagonist’s’ choice.  Sothis clicked the confirmation button, whoever was talking to them (in the game) gave a look. Doesn’t phase her. No, she’s mashing through text.

“Good morning, Sothis.” a voice greeted, Byleth now making her entrance. Already dressed in her armor, she didn’t look refreshed. “Got tired of Bravely Default?”

Sothis shook her head and raised the 3DS up. Guess that answers the question. Well, not really. Unless this is one of those games that requires ‘sleep mode’. I don’t mind those ones.

“Oh. You’re waiting on buildings to rebuild. Gotcha.” Byleth remarked, heading for the kitchen. Opening a cabinet up, out comes a box of the most generic cereal I’ve ever seen. Like seriously, what kind of cereal is ‘Tropic Rings’. Is it really that hard to come up with a good cereal brand? Can’t be that hard, right? “Coming!”

Rushing over, the professor pulled the door open. There, we find Dorothea of all people standing out there. While she looked to have gotten a lot more sleep than Byleth, she wasn’t expecting to see the professor in her armor. Though, that does make her choice of the uniform top with pajama pants. Huh… that’s quite an interesting combination.

“Uh… could I stop by for breakfast?” Dorothea remarked and got a look from her girlfriend. To be fair, I would probably be confused as well if my spouse just showed up partially dressed. “I was thinking that I could help you with planning this heist.”


	2. Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorothea takes Byleth a movie in order to get her to understand how a heist.
> 
> In other words, the plan changed and that's okay.

I don't own Fire Emblem.

* * *

“What is the first thing you know about heisting?” Dorothea inquired, watching her girlfriend stare at her for a moment. We’re not off to a good start. Whether by way of stress or just plain tiredness, we can’t tell. Possibly a mix of both. “Uh… have you ever seen a heist movie?”

Her words roll out, Byleth’s eyes glazing over. Oh dear. You definitely don’t want that when you’re supposed to be planning for stealing this tea set. Or perhaps there’s something special in the coffee. That’s what Silas claimed… when he wasn’t sent off to the furthest places in Hoshido or Nohr because Corrin didn’t want to deal with him. Which was quite often. Just because you’re someone’s childhood friend doesn’t mean they really want to deal with you. But I digress.

“Do you even know what a movie is?” Dorothea remarked, getting a chuckle from Sothis. To be fair, you wouldn’t know a movie if it didn’t bite you on the ass. Though I do have a confession to make, Mozu did have to teach me how to use a DVD player. The latest media player I had used was a betamax. Yes, I’m that old. And it isn’t funny, Mozu. Yes, finding that collection of tapes in a storage unit was a neat find… even if that also came with scandalous photos. I have no idea where that stuff came from. Or why exactly those pictures were even taken in the first place. Seriously, I think they were just a bunch of strange alterations that I kept for the heck of it.

“Are those like a youtube video?” Byleth remarked, Dorothea falling out of her chair. While the professor scrambled to pull her back up, that wasn’t necessary. Mostly because our opera singer here was already back in the chair as quickly as she left it. A natural performer.

“Well… they show them on a large screen and you can’t pause the video.” Dorothea explained, getting a nod from her girlfriend. After, she pulled her phone out and turned it on. Sliding right, the time is taken to give this device a brief glance. “You know what? We’re going to a movie. Right now!”

Grabbing hold of Byleth, Dorothea gave the professor little time to dissuade her or suggest another option. Sure, Byleth had kind of wanted to get some ‘Princess time’ in. Especially with all the stress brought on by this assignment and the mess that was Count Varley. But that was something she could do when it was just her and Sothis in the apartment. Of course, that could change if Sothis decides to come with.

“Are you coming?” the opera singer continued, Sothis not even looking away from the screen and her game. Must be quite engaging to have that sort of sway on her. Or perhaps she just wanted the apartment all to herself. Doesn’t really matter to either of us. Just choose an option and stick with it. Not that difficult of a process. But some people can make it seem that way. That’s beyond the point though.

The pair exited Byleth’s apartment and pulled their maps out. Pointing to the entrance of Gareg Mach, the drones come down and carry them to their destination. More than enough time for Dorothea to do something on her phone. Probably something related to movies or something. Usually, Mozu and I just go to the theater directly. No use in going through all the hassle of supposedly ‘faster’ methods. Especially when you’re only seeing one or two movies a year. At my age, it’s kind of hard to sit that long without squirming about. Especially with all the children screeching whenever they see their favorite character. Maybe I did want to watch a magical girl movie in one of Hoshido’s many theaters without some goober screaming at the camera. Doesn’t help when the characters encourage such behavior with those cute little wands. Real mages don’t get those sorts of things. It’s not fa- Oh. I’ve gotten on quite a tangent. My bad.

“We’re going to be seeing Mountains Eleven.” Dorothea explained, already heading for the gate. Her girlfriend followed right behind, sort of following what the opera singer had just said. Sure, she was used to traveling about (it was one of the few things she and her father did as a family activity). But that didn’t quite explain where the opera singer had in mind at the moment. Surely there was more to this than just watching a youtube video you couldn’t pause. That would just be a rip-off. You had to be getting something in return for going out of your way to go to such a place. If not, why even bother? Not that she said that out loud to her girlfriend. That would be rude, disrespectful even. So the professor bit her tongue and let Dorothea lead her off Gareg Mach and down the path to the nearby town. Looks the same as it always does. Especially as we make our way once more to the mall.

“Do you have any preferences for your popcorn and drink?” Dorothea continued, Byleth looking away for the moment. Sure, the second part of that question was easy - a cherry cola. Jeralt would always get on her case for spending what little money they had for emergencies on the sugary stuff. But in the end, Byleth usually won out. But popcorn? The only kind she had ever had came from those tins. You know, the ones that people get at holidays. Except the ones they ended up with only had the regular popcorn. Why people would never give them the other kinds was a mystery. Not that she had ever given it much thought until now.

“Cherry cola and regular popcorn?” Byleth remarked and got a look from her girlfriend. Especially as she had managed to walk past her by a couple feet. “Oh.”

Before we can get to the movie theater though, we need to stop at the local convenience store for snacks. I guess this isn’t one of those fancy movie theaters. Or perhaps she just wants to not have to deal with the extravagant prices the theaters have for their stuff. Either way, this is quite a good idea on Dorothea’s part. Though, I think someone wants to make this a date - a movie date. Except this is also supposed to be research. Eh. A bit of both.

Inside, the convenience store was how one expected it to be. Row upon row of short shelves filled with assorted stuff welcome all who enter with the back being reserved for cold stuff. Don’t want your ice cream before someone has a chance to eat it.

“I’ll pay.” Byleth explained, watching Dorothea browse the various aisles and grab stuff. Mostly candy, she did eventually grab the cherry cola and what looked to be a can of iced tea. Might I remind you she’s still only partially dressed? Because she is still only partially dressed. Which is more than enough not to get kicked out of the store. Different rules for Fodlan I guess? Or perhaps no one really wants to enforce said rules. Probably the former in this case.

“Thank you.” Dorothea remarked, giving a wink towards her girlfriend. Byleth’s cheeks went red and she looked away. Why did her girlfriend have to make this awkward? Especially when she hadn’t paid for that stuff yet. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the counter and pulled some gold out.

“Sorry about this.” Byleth muttered, not even getting a response from the clerk. To be fair, Dorothea was still winking in her direction. I feel like you can stop at this point. This is just humiliating.

Thankfully, Dorothea did eventually stop. But not before grabbing some licorice and an iced tea. Which was actually a drink and not you know, ice cream.

“Ready to go to our movie?” the opera singer remarked and set the stuff down on the counter. Gold already put down, the clerk looked it over and made the difference. Handing the loose gold back, Byleth snatched up their snacks.

“Yeah.” the professor remarked, the pair making their way out.


	3. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we have our date and Byleth gets a clear picture on what she needs to do.

I don't own Fire Emblem.

* * *

Snacks and drinks now in hand, it was time to really head for the movie theater. Which meant heading first for the mall. Because of course that’s where the local theater is situated. Who would really give such a place their own separate building? That would just be a waste. Imagine the amount of money such a place would need to bring in? Quite a lot. Which probably depends on the movies being shown and a variety of other factors that are beyond the control of the theater. Oh dear. I’ve gotten seriously off-topic. Good food for thought.

“Will you be fine with sitting for two hours?” Dorothea remarked and watched her girlfriend nod. Out of all the things the opera singer thought she would be doing today, it was going to a movie at a theater. Fuck. When was the last time the opera singer could say she had done that? Had to be some time before entering Gareg Mach. It was probably to celebrate some major accomplishment their troupe had accomplished or perhaps the theater season had ended for the year. Didn’t really matter.

“Hopefully?” Byleth remarked as the mall came into view. Sure, the professor was fairly certain that her attention span would hold out while sitting through this ‘movie’. She had watched tons of youtube videos in her spare time (some of which during her princess time). This was just a very long youtube video. That you were unable to pause and hopefully on a bigger screen than her laptop. Yet, why did it feel like the opera singer had left something out - a crucial detail that made this whole thing come together. Right?

Yet, nothing was really coming to her right now. So she pushed it to the back of her mind. No use dwelling on something that was likely not in her control. Even if it somehow was, there was no way they would actually cat-

“It’s okay if you can’t.” Dorothea answered, not even looking to Byleth at the moment. No, her focus was on the stretch of mall ahead. Doesn’t look to be much there right now. Maybe in the future… or perhaps not. “There’s a showing where they keep the lights on and they’re fine with you moving around a bit. Though, that showing is a bit later.”

Byleth nodded and picked up her pace, going for a slow walk to a bit of a jog. Mostly so that Dorothea didn’t leave her behind and so she could at least continue their conversation.

“They do?” she asked, getting a nod from her girlfriend. I stand corrected on my previous remark. Guess there is a market. Not a very big market, but still one for this sort of thing.

“Yeah. It’s for people with disabilities or short attention spans.” Dorothea explained, Byleth’s gaze snapping right to her. Her words rolled out, the glare got quite fierce. Looks like you can pierce someone with it… not one should ever do that. Even if you don’t agree with the reasoning behind such a suggestion is more to explain the reasons than to actually ‘accuse’ them of something they might not be.

“Relax…” Dorothea whispered and put a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. Taking a deep breath, she looked Byleth right in the eye. “Are you alright? I get that this wasn’t exactly part of your plan, but I wasn’t trying to put you down. Just explaining why someone might want that in place of the usual theater experience.”

Byleth looked away, muttering something under her breath. She had just snapped at her girlfriend of all people. Yes. This situation was not the sort of thing she wanted to be in currently. But Dorothea sat on a whole different level - a person who held a connection unlike anything she had ever felt in perhaps her entire existence. And she just snapped at her. Not ‘

“The last couple days have been a challenge.” the professor whispered, finding herself whisked away to a nearby bench. “Just this heist alone I have no clue on what the fuck were supposed to do to acquire that tea set. Which is on top of going to talk to Caspar and Linhardt about what happened at Zanado…”

Grabbing hold of Byleth's hand, Dorothea squeezed it and focused on the professor's face. Tears rolling down, the culmination of stress and frustration. I don't blame her for feeling that way. In between all the things she does know about, there's the uncertain possibilities hanging in the background - the return of Edelgard and Bernadetta, Hubert's announcement and of course, Marianne. Most regular people would call it quits. But not her.

"I have no clue what the hell I'm supposed to do." Byleth whispered, gaze finally meeting that of her girlfriend. "I'm supposed to be the one who brings everyone up to their best. But what the heck can I do when I don't have the answers to these questions?"

Silence fell over our pair, providing the perfect opportunity to just take a few deep breaths and maybe get a sip of your drink. A little refreshment can go a long way in making things better.

"It's alright that you don't." Dorothea answered as she squeezed Byleth's hand one more time. In return, the opera singer got a squeeze of her own. "We'll just figure it out as we go along."

Byleth nodded, taking the time to stand up from the bench. Dorothea was right behind, hands still held tight. At least for now.

"Which way to the movie theater?" the professor remarked, her girlfriend pointing towards the right of them. Well, that works out perfectly. Walking that way, it’s a lot slower this time around. Mostly because they were both making sure that the other was right behind. Don’t want to suddenly choose to book it after that heartfelt admission. Not that either of them would actually think of doing that. In it for the long haul. Or would this be a long sit in this case? Either one works in this situation.

With the ticket booth coming into view, our pair of lovers kept their consistent pace. Though, Byleth did need to let go so that her girlfriend could fish out her phone for what felt like the umpteenth time today. It wasn’t, just felt like that.

“Two tickets for Mountains Eleven.” the opera singer explained, the woman operating the ticket booth giving it a quick look. Then it’s right back to their little kiosk computer thing. Fingers whizzing about the keys, makes this kind of impressive to watch. Probably would, if it didn’t end as quickly as it started in the first place.

“Any preference on your seating arrangement?” the woman inquired, Dorothea looking at her girlfriend for an answer. I can see this going wrong quite fast. Please tell me that she at least knows what this woman is talking about. Right?

“Together?” Byleth remarked, the ticket lady not even trying to hide her laughter. So the professor looked away and let out a deep breath. Just one more thing to add to the massive list of things she didn’t know.

“Higher up then.” the ticket lady explained, handing over a pair of tickets. Our pair accepted the gift and head on in.

Inside, the lobby looked like something out of the nineties. Like seriously, who the heck puts stuff like ‘tubular’ and ‘groovy’ right on the walls next to the arcade games. What’s with all these racing games too? Where’s the Pac-Man and Space Invaders?! Those are real classics, not this junk. Oh. My wife just told me that most of those cabinets are either in museums or destroyed by the owners of arcades because a new game needed to go in its place. Oh. Thanks, Mozu?

Yet, the duo pushed on past that and over to the food vendors counter thing. Right. Concession stands. That’s what you’re supposed to call them. Good to know.

“I’m just going to get some regular popcorn.” Dorothea explained and got a nod from her girlfriend. Unlike the ticket booth though, this did have a line. Not sure why exactly you would line up when you can just buy snacks and drinks from outside places. Yet our opera singer joined the crowd of people in line for oversized cups and metal popcorn buckets. Seems like an odd thing to do. The metal popcorn bucket. Sure, you can reuse it for future movies… if you collect the bucket after the showing. Got to be worth something to the right collector. Let’s see… the current tins are for Mountains Eleven and Pretty Princess Valkyrie X. The latter of which had a picture of the titular mecha princess decked out in her amazing pink gown with all it’s weapons. Why the hell don’t we get stuff like that here in either Hoshido or Nohr? Especially since the opposite side has her rival decked out in purple. Well, I assume that’s Valkyrie X’s rival. Probably their lover as well. What? That’s how it usually works in these stories. I think at least. But I digress.

Thankfully, the actual line is moving quite fast and it’s now Dorothea’s turn to get her popcorn. While the transaction looks good, there’s a bit of a disappointment. Especially as she makes her way back to Byleth.

“I asked for a Mountains Eleven bucket, but they gave me the other one.” Dorothea announced, Byleth’s gaze already on the bucket. Sure, this might be disappointing for our opera singer, but this was a win for the professor. I get the feeling she’s going to get quite some mileage out of it. If they keep it, of course. But that’s beyond the point.

With all their snacks and drinks on them, the pair headed for the secondary gate. There another woman was checking people’s tickets. Why they aren’t in the lobby and not… here before the theater hall is beyond me. Though, I was born long before a time that people actually checked your tickets for just about anything. So what do I know?

“Here.” Byleth greeted, holding out her ticket. The person gave it a quick look, focusing on Dorothea’s right after.

“Your movie is in Theater 10.” the ticket person explained and our pair headed down the hall. But not before taking in the poster for Pretty Princess Valkyrie X. Quite a beauty. Does not make me jealous at all that none of the movie theaters near us have anything as cool as that. Not one bit. I’m fine with the bottom of the barrel action movies that decided that this flipping theater of all places was their dumping grounds. But that doesn’t matter right now. Mostly because our two heroines have found their destination and are now looking for their seats.

“Oh my.” Byleth whispered, taking in the room they found themselves in. Bigger than anything she had seen in her travels, it was on a whole different scale. Especially when Dorothea directed her further up to their seats.

“What do you think?” Dorothea remarked and got a thumbs-up in return. Once seated, they get to munching down. “Before the movie, they show a couple trailers - mostly for other movies.”

Byleth nodded, gaze shifting back over to Dorothea. A strange beat echoed through her body. Foreign, it feels right. Even more so as her hand reaches out for the opera singer.

The trailers play out, showcasing all sorts of wonderful movies. Not that our pair were really paying attention to that.

.

“And that’s our plan.” Byleth explained, looking over her students. Yes, this was not ideal as a teaching environment. But this would do. “Any questions?”   
Looking about the room, there was silence. Sure, Edelgard and Bernadetta had finally returned and Shamir had chosen to stay away (at least for now). But this felt like it came out of nowhere for the Black Eagles.

“Good. We'll set this in motion at the end of the month.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... Definitely not my original plan for this fic. At all. As in the original plan was just to have Dorothea and Byleth plan this out and then go into the heist itself. This works too.
> 
> Short break to work on other things, then our heist to end out chapter 5.


End file.
